Misc. Comments

Initially composed for the Norwich Festival of 1842, though first given a performance (from piano score- not yet orchestrated) in Kassel by Spohr in 1840. Orchestrated October-December 1840. For info on the librettist see Wikisource. Written originally in English, then translated into German according to Spohr biographer Clive Brown - but then Taylor had to retranslate the text into English. There is a second "edition" published around 1867 but Brown does not seem to mention any revisions - this may have been simply a matter of getting the oratorio back on the market of course. Apparently only the overture so far has been recorded, on a Hyperion CD with symphonies 3 and 6, in 2010 (the year I write this.)